The most badly mismanaged Sri Lankan pro | Sunday Observer
Angelo Perera:

The most badly mismanaged Sri Lankan pro

16 February, 2020
Angelo Perera
Angelo Perera

In any other cricket playing nation, other than in the land of his birth, Angelo Perera would have had a fair chance to showcase himself to an extent worthy of his unrelenting talents.

In Sri Lanka, the land teeming with pundits and self-proclaimed messiahs, Angelo is still not worth his salt despite cracking over 7000 runs in the domestic club scene and not able to feature in a single Test or series raising questions that something irredeemable has taken place in an establishment that has become the private property of a few political nutcrackers.

Despite ten seasons of batting for his club NCC and clobbering world record twin double hundreds (201 and 238) in a first class match last year, Angelo is still among the reeds and weeds while several batsmen who have done less than half of what he has achieved have become irreplaceable regulars in a Sri Lanka team that has hit the lowest depths.

Some experts now fear that the extent to which Angelo has been unscrupulously managed may have put him in a scenario where he’ll come under extreme pressure to deliver the moment the Selectors throw him into the ring in which they can only hope he fails so they could justify driving home the point that the 30-year old was made only for home shows.

His prowess and feats in both First Class and limited overs cricket have been streets ahead of most players who have worn the Sri Lanka cap or are in waiting for a first time call-up.

And Angelo must have been one of the rare cricketers to have butchered himself into a tour party last year for a series in South Africa but never took guard at the crease.

When it was thought that the tour would be the make or break point for Angelo, it turned out to be yet another teaser in a five-year saga of fleeting moments.

The same Angelo successfully spearheaded his Colombo team at last year’s Super Four Provincial tournament and now finds himself in a squad to play just two practice one-day matches against the West Indies and like the rest in it, make a few bucks and go home in the eyes of the owners of Sri Lanka Cricket.

If the Selectors hoped that Angelo would fail in the current SLC Major League Tier A three-day championships, the opposite happened when he smashed a century (126) in the opening match against Ragama CC and followed it up with 51 against Lankan CC that took him past the 7000-run milestone.

The Sri Lanka squad to meet the West Indies minus Angelo Perera:

Dimuth Karunaratne (ODI captain), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Pradeep, Lahiru Kumara, Lasith Malinga (T20 captain), Oshada Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Shehan Jayasuriya, Kasun Rajitha

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